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Indonesia and the Malay World
ISSN: 1363-9811 (Print) 1469-8382 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cimw20
Young Islamic preachers on Facebook: Pesantren
As’adiyah and its engagement with social media
Wahyuddin Halim
To cite this article: Wahyuddin Halim (2018) Young Islamic preachers on Facebook: Pesantren As’adiyah and its engagement with social media, Indonesia and the Malay World, 46:134, 44-60, DOI: 10.1080/13639811.2018.1416796
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13639811.2018.1416796
Published online: 22 Feb 2018.
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Young Islamic preachers on Facebook: Pesantren As
’
adiyah
and its engagement with social media
Wahyuddin Halim
Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar, Romanpolong-Gowa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
ABSTRACT
This article investigates how social media are utilised and appropriated within the community of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. More generally, it examines how the exposure and engagement with social media have influenced its religious life and thepesantrentradition which is often associated with conservatism. Nowadays, manypesantren, such as As’adiyah, the oldest and once the largest pesantren in the province of South Sulawesi, have inevitably opened themselves to accept and use modern technology in their teaching and preaching programmes. Since the late twentieth century, the alumni of As’adiyah have been maintaining networks in their South Sulawesi homeland and in other parts of Indonesia through personal encounter as well as the assignment ofmubalig
(religious preacher) and imam. With the introduction and appropriation of digital technologies, many members of the As’adiyah community have harnessed social media to maintain and strengthen their network and increase their religious reputation.
KEYWORDS
Facebook; Islam; networking; Pesantren As’adiyah; social media
Introduction
In Indonesia today, social media are particularly popular among the country’s young gen-eration. According to eMarketer (2016) almost 90% of Indonesia’s social media users are under the age of 34 (of whom 54% are between 16 and 24 years of age); it further shows that Facebook is still the most popular social media platform in Indonesia followed by Instagram and Twitter. Around 32% of the country’s total population are mobile Internet users with nearly 9 out of 10 mobile Internet users aged 16–35 using Facebook while 7 in 10 are using Instagram. With its 78 million Facebook users, Indonesia ranks fourth in the global Facebook users per country statistic. This number is expected to rise to more than 100 million users by 2019 (eMarketer2016).
Research on the use of social networking sites among Indonesians has focused on their role in social and political activism (Lim2013), identity contestation (Suwito2014), and the transformation of the country’s religious economy (Slama2017). Hosen (2008) exam-ines online fatwa distributed through websites and its importance in understanding Islamic developments in Indonesia. He does not, however, specifically address social
© 2018 Editors, Indonesia and the Malay World
CONTACT Wahyuddin Halim [email protected] Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar, Jl. H. M. Yasin Limpo No. 63, Romanpolong-Gowa, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
VOL. 46, NO. 134, 44–60
networking sites as the medium for this online fatwa. Similarly, Nisa’s (2013) study on the Internet usage of Indonesian face-veiled women focuses on mailing lists as their medium to attain a level of sociability and facilitate religious self-improvement. However, little research has been conducted on the uses of social media among particular religious com-munities, such aspesantren (Islamic boarding schools) which represent a subculture in Indonesia (Wahid1974: 43). The present study attempts to fill this lacuna by exploring the uses of Facebook among members of Pesantren As’adiyah, one of South Sulawesi’s most significant Islamic communities.
I shall first briefly explain my methodology and, in the following section, provide a concise description of the distinctive nature ofpesantrenin general and Pesantren As’ a-diyah more specifically. This research is based on online and offline participant obser-vation in fieldwork conducted from late 2011 to late 2012 as part of my dissertation (Halim 2012), and in 2016, for several intermittent weeks. This qualitative research focuses in particular on the content of users’ Facebook timelines, and observations of their offline life, including in-depth interviews that I was able to conduct during my eth-nographic offline research.
Pesantren As’adiyah–a major Islamic educational institution in Indonesia
As’adiyah is the oldest and today one of the largestpesantrenin South Sulawesi with about 3,500 to 4,000 students at its junior and high school levels in 2016.1Thepesantrenis con-sidered the oldest type of Islamic educational institution in Indonesia that has its origin in Java. Several scholars claim that thepesantrenhas been the most important centre for tra-ditional Islamic learning in Indonesia (Azra 2002; Steenbrink 1986; Rachman 1997). Although its existence can be traced to the earliest period of Islamisation in the archipe-lago, Dhofier (1999: 15–16) argues that thepesantrenas we know them today have only been around since the early nineteenth century. He depicts five major elements of a pesant-ren’seducational system: (1) accommodation for the students (pondok); (2) the mosque where students most appropriately learn; (3) the classical Islamic texts in Arabic as the main source of learning; (4) the students (santri, from which the term pesantren, i.e. place of thesantri, is derived); and (5) thekiyai(principal teacher, also ulama).
One of the important features of thepesantrenis its method of Islamic learning which is known asbandonganin Java (but by other terms elsewhere, e.g.mangaji kitta[Bugis],lit. ‘learning with or from a book’). With this pedagogy, akiyaireads a classical Islamic text-book, explains its content and ideas, and translates its meaning into a vernacular language to students who sit around him, holding the same textbook, listening and making notes on the meaning of the text. In many parts of the Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East, this form of Islamic learning is called the halaqa (Arabic: lit. ‘circle’). In general,
thepesantren play crucial roles similar to those Azra et al. (2007: 174) have described
for Islamic educational institutions in the Muslim world in general: (1) transmitting reli-gious knowledge; (2) maintaining Islamic tradition as a whole, and (3) providing a centre for the training and social reproduction of the ulama.2
1
It is one of the top fivepesantrenin South Sulawesi today in terms of student enrolment. Data from Ministry of Religious Affairs (2014–2015), showed there were 292pesantrenin South Sulawesi and 28,961 in Indonesia.
2
As one of‘the largest and most complex educational networks in the Muslim world’, to quote Woodward (1999: xi),pesantrenhave shaped the many different ways in which Indonesian Muslims have interpreted and practised Islam.3 In South Sulawesi, a reli-gious educational system similar topesantren in Java was only established in the early decades of the twentieth century (Bruinessen 2012; Pawiloy et al. 1981). As’adiyah is one of these pesantren. It was established by Muhammad As’ad al-Bugisy (1907– 1952), a Mecca-born Bugis4 ulama, in Sengkang (South Sulawesi) in 1930. As‘adiyah, however, is not only apesantrenlocated in a specific place but also a religious educational foundation (Yayasan Perguruan As’adiyah) that operates hundreds of Islamic schools across the country.5 It is also a socio-religious organisation (Organisasi As’adiyah) with members and affiliates that include Muslims in South Sulawesi as well as other pro-vinces, particularly in the eastern part of Indonesia where many Bugis migrants have settled.
As Lineton (1975) observed, among the Bugis in South Sulawesi, the members of the Wajo sub-group most often migrate to other parts of the archipelago; they have done so at least since the sixteenth century, as economic migrants and to improve their social status (Bakti 2010). I have argued elsewhere (Halim 2015) that the network of the As’adiyah alumni has played a significant role in maintaining relationships between the Wajo people in the heartland of South Sulawesi and the Wajo migrants in the diaspora. As’adiyah has become a kind of second identity for many Bugis Muslims who have gradu-ated from Pesantren As’adiyah or have become members of the As’adiyah socio-religious organisation. Through its religious education and proselytising programmes, As’adiyah transmits and disseminates Islamic interpretations and practices which are compatible with Bugis traditions (Halim2015).
Among the ways in which the people of Wajo descent in particular, and the Bugis more generally, seek to transmit and maintain their religious and ethnic identity is to send their children to Sengkang to study at Pesantren As’adiyah as well as to invite amubalig (reli-gious preacher) and an imam from Sengkang to their sometimes distant diasporic places. It is often the case that As’adiyah’s alumni are pioneers and establish mosques and reli-gious schools in new villages and that they are the first imam and khatib(preacher at the Friday congregational prayer) in these places due to their religious knowledge and competence from being educated at Pesantren As’adiyah.
As’adiyah’s socio-religious programmes include Islamic proselytising and small-scale economic activities. Islamic proselytising primarily consists of delivering sermons in
3
For example, Azra (2002), Bruinessen (2012) and Steenbrink (1986) underline the role ofpesantrenconcerning the trans-mission of Islamic knowledge and values; the adaptation to social changes and modernity (Arifin2013; Horikoshi1987; Lukens-Bull2005; Rahardjo1988); economic and participatory development (Budiwiranto2007; Permani2011; Suaedy and Sulistyo2000; Suprayogo2007; Syahid and Mahduri2002; and Turmudi2006); gender education (Purwaningsih
2007); the cultivation of nationalism (Moesa2007; Zaini1998); the strengthening of civic values and civil society (Feillard
1994; Pohl2007); political dynamics in the country (Suaedy and Sulistyo2000; Suprayogo2007); and the transformation of religious authority and identity (Halim2015).
4
‘Bugis’here refers to one of the two major ethnic groups (the other being Makassar) in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi, which is today the province of South Sulawesi.
5To distinguish between Islamic educational programmes that are operated by As
mosques and other religious environments such as Islamic learning groups (majelis
taklim). It is also conducted through its programme Radio Suara As’adiyah (the voice
of As’adiyah) and the publication of print media including religious books, bulletins and magazines. In this article, I particularly focus on two As’adiyah religious programmes where the engagement of thepesantrencommunity with social media can best be inves-tigated. These are the training of imams and the provision ofmubaligandustadh(religious teacher).
Self-representation of young As’adiyah imams on Facebook
Since its establishment in 1930, As’adiyah has trained many imams through its special programme,Tahfidh al-Qur’an(lit.‘the memorisation of the Qur’an’).6The ability of a man to recite the Qur’an from memory is one of the requirements for leading congrega-tional prayers. There are four places in and around Sengkang where the tahfidh pro-gramme is available, with the main one at the Jami’ Mosque in the southwestern part of the city.
Memorising the whole of the Qur’an requires strong motivation, and discipline of the mind and body. It is ‘a process of ongoing remaking of the self through a specifically Qur’anic involvement grounded in both the text and its social context’(Gade2004: 60). When a student has memorised the Qur’an he is granted the title ḥāfidh (Arabic: plural,ḥuffādh,‘memoriser or preserver of the Qur’an’). Some students enrol in the pro-gramme at the age of 10 or 11 (on finishing primary school), others at age 14 or 15 (after completing junior high school). Students attending the tahfidh programme are drawn from all over Indonesia. Their motivations include wanting to be an imam, aiming to gain spiritual values granted by God to someone who memorises the whole Qur’an as well as the desire to successfully participate in national and international contests for Qur’an recitation and memorisation.7As Abdullah Mustafa, a teacher of thetahfidh pro-gramme explained to me, in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) the person who has memorised the Qur’an and has knowledge of the correct way to perform the prayer is the one who should preferably be appointed as the imam, regardless of age. However, if two men are equally qualified in Qur’anic knowledge and the prophetic tradition, then the one who is older should lead the prayer.8
Previously, in most Indonesian mosques the post of imam was held by elder members of the community. Nowadays, many mosques provide an honorarium or some form of financial allowance for a youngḥuffādhto be their permanent imam, that is, to lead all five daily congregational prayers. During the month of Ramadhan particularly, when con-gregational prayers are attended by a greater number of Muslims than in other months and when salat tarawih (recommended additional prayers at night time) is performed, mosques appoint a young imam who is either aḥāfidhor a student (who has memorised
6The term
‘imam’in its most general sense refers to an Islamic leadership post that may include that of a community leader who provides religious guidance, and lead prayers at the mosque. In its more specific sense, within the Sunni Muslim tradition, the term is most commonly used as the title for a person who leads congregational prayers in the mosque.
‘Imam’is used throughout this article in this specific meaning.
7These are two different contests. Qu
’ranic memorisation is for correctness or completeness of one’s Qur’anic memorisation, and Qur’anic recitation is for the melodic beauty or eloquence of one’s Qur’anic recitation (by reading a text in hand).
at least five chapters of the Qur’an) of thetahfidhprogramme. Since they lead the salat tarawih, they are also calledimam tarawih.
It has been an As’adiyah tradition that each year during the Ramadhan month,tahfidh
students and graduates are assigned to various places in eastern Indonesia. Not only that, manyḥuffādhfrom As’adiyah (whose ages range from 14 to 18 years) serve asimam masjid (mosque imam). They are engaged for a certain period by the mosque committee to lead congregational prayers and may serve in large mosques (masjid rayaormasjid agung) of major cities or remote rural areas. For example, during Ramadhan 2016, As’adiyah sent about 150imam tarawihas far afield as Merauke in Papua, Kutai Kartanegara in East Kali-mantan, Poso in Central Sulawesi, and Bantaeng in the southern part of South Sulawesi.
The director of As’adiyah’stahfidhprogramme, H. Muhammad Yahya, explained that one of the most difficult challenges and disruptions fortahfidhstudents today is the use of mobile phones and the Internet.9Therefore, owning or using mobile phones is forbidden to students who nevertheless visit Internet cafés to gain access. A programme teacher attributed the main reason for this prohibition to students spending too much time brows-ing the Internet, watchbrows-ing videos on YouTube, chattbrows-ing on social media, playbrows-ing online games, and most probably viewing pornographic sites.10As the director stressed, accessing pornographic sites can negatively influence young students who should have a pristine soul as a prerequisite when progressing in their attempts to memorise the Qur’an.11
Interestingly, however, once they have completed the programme, that is, once they have become a ḥāfidh, these graduates are free to own a mobile phone and to access the Internet either through their smartphone or at internet cafés. As a teacher said, ‘One of the benefits is that they can now watch and learn different variations of Qur’anic recitation and memorisation performed by more professionalḥuffādhglobally, particularly those available on YouTube’.12 With their mobile phone, they are now able to be among the young‘modern, mobile, Muslims’(Barendregt2008: 160).
Consequently, many of thetahfidhgraduates use social media such as Facebook and the instant messaging services and communication programmes such as WhatsApp. I met and befriended some of the graduates online through Facebook and offline during my field-work in 2012 and 2016. For most of them Facebook is a useful way for maintaining contact with their former classmates in thetahfidhprogramme and to make new friends. The young imams also use Facebook as a means of self-presentation. As with many Facebook users, they portray themselves on this social medium by posting pictures, videos and messages. To a certain degree this may seem at variance with the perceived ideal image of an imam in particular, and aḥāfidh in general. For Muslims, the Qur’an is the sacred scripture and consequently, the person who has memorised it should behave in accordance with what they have memorised. For example, in following Islamic norms they have to avoid committing immoral acts, be modest in words, action and attire and some of the Facebook postings may be at odds with that ideal.
To illustrate the contradictions that the uses of social media may generate, I describe the Facebook profile of a 21 year old imam, Darwis Gunawan.13 A graduate of As’adiyah’s
9Interview in Sengkang, 20 August 2012. 10
Interview in Sengkang, 25 August 2012.
11Interview in Sengkang, 20 August 2012. 12
Interview in Sengkang, 25 August 2012.
tahfidhprogramme, he was appointedimam masjidin the Manuntung grand mosque in Margasari, in the district of Balikpapan Barat, East Kalimantan. I have not met him in person but had a series of phone conversations and Facebook chats with him during my research in 2012. Some of his postings on Facebook comprise photos that show his half-naked six-pack body, presenting the results of his onerous physical exercises at a gym, where the photo was taken. Another image is an edited one which shows him wearing black animal skin attire and holding a sword representing Dario, a character from the Star Wars film. In another posted photo, he has a Superman attire with the caption: ‘I am Superman.’ And on his Facebook account one can also find a photo of him sitting on the saddle of a large and expensive motorbike. The comments on this posting indicate that he is aiming to own such a motorbike in the future. At the same time, however, he uploaded many photos of himself when he was on the the lesser pilgrim-age (umrah) to Mecca.Imam masjidare often financed by the local mosque community (jama’ah masjid) to perform anumrah, as in the case of Darwis, and sometimes a hajj.14 Similar to what Raacke and Bonds-Raacke (2008) found in their research about the uses of social networking sites among college students in the United States, the common reasons young As’adiyah imams use Facebook include: (1) keeping in touch with former school mates, particularly with their fellow graduates from thetahfidhprogramme; (2) finding old friends which they claim is much easier through Facebook than any other social media platform. As aḥāfidhexplained,‘We can easily search for our friends’real names or, if they use nicknames or pseudonyms, we can identify their photos displayed on his or on his friends’ wall’;15 (3) keeping in touch with current friends; (4) making new friends; (5) posting or viewing pictures, photos or videos; (6) learning about current events or topical issues; (7) attracting and inviting people to events such as weddings and religious ceremonies. The last point reveals considerable changes in etiquette as until recently a printed wedding invitation in a well decorated envelope delivered to a guest’s address was considered appropriate. Today, wedding invitations delivered digitally via Facebook and other social media have become increasingly acceptable in the Bugis com-munity, particularly among the younger generation. Certainly, for these young imams, Facebook also serves as suitable platform for self-esteem. We can observe, for example, that these users post on their Facebook walls photos, videos, texts and hyperlinks about their travels to distant places including overseas trips, their personal achievements, material possessions, their weddings, affinities with famous figures, their wife, and children.
However, some imams also appear to be alarmed about the possible negative moral consequences of this engagement with social media. For example, a young imam at a grand mosque in the sub-district of Malangke of North Luwu district, South Sulawesi, asked on his Facebook wall whether postings related to a person’s religious practice can be considered as riya’, an Arabic term indicating the intention to make oneself appear pious in order to earn respect and admiration, which is strongly discouraged in Islamic theology.
‘Following’ fellow ḥuffādh on Facebook is another central motive for joining it. An imam serving in a mosque in Sengkang stated that he particularly likes to follow fellow
14In other cases, local Muslim communities may try to retain their imam for longer in the village when his initial placement
contract is about to end, for example, by marrying him to a local girl.
graduates of the As’adiyah tahfidh programme who have won Qur’anic memorisation competitions at national and international levels, and have become imam masjid (on a permanent contract) in the large prestigious mosques in Indonesian cities. For him, doing this is particularly useful, as he receives new ideas, inspiration and encouragement from observing the successful career paths of his fellow Qur’anic‘preservers’.16
Among the graduates of As’adiyah’s tahfidh programme frequently presented as examples of success are H. Martomo and H. Ihsan Anshari who are both permanent imams in Jakarta: Martomo at the state mosque of Istiqlal, and Ihsan Ashari at the official mosque of the Indonesian Supreme Court. Martomo and Ihsan won international Qur’anic memorisation contests as the fourth and second winner respectively, and received financial awards of tens of thousands of US dollars.
Young imams from As’adiyah have also taken advantage of Facebook to share infor-mation about job vacancies for imam posts, Qur’an contests and scholarships specifically offered forḥuffādh. As a graduate of tahfidh asserted, thanks to this mutual sharing of information through Facebook, some ḥuffādh are able to find placements as an imam in various mosques throughout the country, and others learn about scholarships for undergraduate and post-graduate studies in Indonesia and abroad.17Ḥuffādhfrom As’ a-diyah’s tahfidh programmes who have a permanent job as a mosque imam, have also created Facebook groups, such as for fundraising among As’adiyah graduates to help develop their alma mater.
Their self-representation on Facebook allows the ideological and religious transform-ation that these young imams undergo. In the case of Ihsan Anshari, we can investigate the transformation he experienced, particularly after he joined the Islamic and Arabic College of Indonesia (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Islam dan Bahasa Arab or LIPIA), a branch college of the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. LIPIA is among the few religious educational institutions that allegedly contributes to the dissemination of the Wahhabi ideology in Indonesia.
In the past two years, Ihsan Ashari’s postings on Facebook, for example, have been dominated by sharing hyperlinks (leading to articles, photos, and videos) that are critical of Islamic practices popular among many Indonesian Muslims and encouraged by Indo-nesia’s largest Islamic organisation Nahdhatul Ulama, but rejected by Wahhabism. His postings also include disapproval of wishing ‘Merry Christmas’ to Christians, reciting the Qur’an in the melody of traditional Javanese songs, and particularly Shi’ism.
In the following, I turn to the second programme of Pesantren As’adiyah, thedakwah
or religious proselytising programme, and discerning these activities of As’adiyah members on Facebook.
Social media and the dakwah activities of As’adiyah preachers
In 2012, when conducting my research on As’adiyah, I noticed that the pesantrenhad taken advantage of digital media in their teaching and preaching programmes.18 For example, some teachers and students of the young ulama training programme use
16
Interview in Sengkang, 5 September 2012.
17Interview in Sengkang, 12 March 2016. 18
laptops when studying books on Qur’anic exegesis available in digital format. A senior teacher in this programme explained that a decade ago this would have been unimaginable when only the director of the pesantrenhad a typewriter at his disposal, which was an expensive tool at that time.19
The current director of Pesantren As’adiyah is AG. Dr H.M. Rafi’i Yunus Martan,20and the most senior ulama within the pesantren community, who obtained his PhD from Michigan University in the United States. He is a retired professor in Qur’anic Studies from the Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar. Like his father, AGH. Muham-mad Yunus Martan (1906–1986), the former director of As’adiyah, AG. Rafi’i Yunus wel-comes new technologies. He uses laptops, tablets and smartphones to access the Internet and for teaching his students in the classroom.
However, in some of As’adiyah’s formal education programmes, only the teachers are allowed to have and use mobile phones and to access the Internet during school days. For example, all students at junior high school level are forbidden from owning mobile phones, tablets or laptops for accessing the Internet. The only exceptions are special study programmes for which access to the Internet is required. The same regulation is also in place for senior high school students. But since they have more study subjects and programmes that necessitate Internet access, they are more frequently given per-mission to access the Internet during their studies.
Apesantrenteacher gave the following reasons for this prohibition of junior and senior high school students from owning or using mobile phones within thepesantrencomplex. Firstly, particularly for junior high students, they are expected to focus on mastering the basic knowledge of Islam through reading standard textbooks written in Arabic. For accomplishing this, they are required to spend most of their mind, time and energy for learning. Having and playing with a smartphone is a distraction. Secondly, mostpesantren
students come from distant places outside of Sengkang in Wajo district. The pesantren
leaders and teachers are concerned that if students have their own mobile phones, they could easily communicate with their parents at home. This may lead to homesick students and parents fabricating reasons, such as a purported family member’s ill-health, to obtain permission from the school for a trip home. As thepesantrenaims at strengthening a stu-dent’s independent character, it would not want to encourage unnecessary home visits, just because of homesickness. Weekly communication between students and parents is permitted through the mobile phone provided and monitored by the supervisor of each dormitory unit on Friday, the day when there are no teaching activities in thepesantren. A third reason concerns the possible negative effects of smartphone ownership among students on their character building and moral development, which is the core of a pesant-reneducation. As the teacher further explained, students who access the Internet through a smartphone may initially be looking for information related to their school lessons. However, they may also stray into accessing harmful content such as online fraud or adult websites. Moreover, if a student has an account on a social media platform, he or she has vast opportunities to develop a relationship with someone of the opposite sex. Pesantren As’adiyah implements single-sex education at secondary school level. Hence,
19Interview in Sengkang, 2 November 2012. 20
there are separate junior and senior high schools for male and female students as well as separate dormitories. Within thepesantrencomplex, personal encounters or relationships between male and female students, directly or indirectly, such as through mobile phones and social media, are curbed.
Despite this strict regulation with regard to owning a mobile phone and restrictions to Internet access, particularly among junior high school students, some manage to gain Internet access without informing their teachers or supervisors. The following ethno-graphic account illustrates such a situation.
During my fieldwork in mid 2016, I met As’adiyah junior high school students, all males, in an internet café not far from their school complex in Lapongkoda, in the northern part of Sengkang. Of six students who were using desktop computers connected to the Internet, five were opening their Facebook accounts and one was playing an online game. The eight computer units in this internet café were installed on low wooden tables with users having to sit cross-legged on the floor. The computers were placed openly in a room of about 6 × 4 metres facing the two longer walls of the room so that visitors like me could easily observe the users’online activities.
Students who were opening their Facebook accounts seemed busy chatting with their female Facebook friends. One student was busily opening profiles of young female Facebook users and sending requests to be friends. I could also see that the Facebook page of another student was full of chatting boxes indicating that he was having many Facebook chats at the same time, all of which contained common words and phrases to start a conversation such as
‘hi’and‘hello’or‘how are you?’.
In brief, it appears to me that basically for these male junior high school students Facebook functions primarily as a means to have many virtual friends of the opposite sex. When I asked one of them about his main purpose for a Facebook account, his answer was simple: ‘to make new friends’ (cari kawan-kawan baru). I recall spending about an hour at this internet café and when I left, these students were still browsing the internet, playing games, and using Facebook.
Let me turn to how members of the Pesantren As’adiyah community use and benefit from social media such as Facebook. Here I will focus on thedakwah(Islamic proselytis-ing) programme that has been at the heart of this religious institution since its establish-ment. Up to now, As’adiyah provides hundreds ofmubaligto deliver religious speeches at various ceremonies and events held by the Muslim community in Wajo and beyond. Cer-emonies in which a religious speech is given or required include life-cycle rituals, the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (Maulid) and his Ascension (Isra’ Mi’raj), moving to a new house, preparation for the hajj, and during Islamic learning sessions (majelis taklim). However, the specific tradition maintained by As’adiyah to this day, which is rarely seen in other similar institutions in Indonesia, is the annual assignment of hundreds of
mubaligfrom thispesantrento deliver religious speeches during the month of Ramadhan
the local imam.Additionally, somemubaligare also requested by the local community to teach children during the day, to read the Qur’an. The final delivery for thesemubalig
Ramadhanis always the‘Idulfitri sermon, a religious speech given after the performance
of congregational prayer on the day that follows the last day of the fasting month of Ramadhan. As mentioned, this tradition of assigning mubalig Ramadhanis in tandem with the assignment of an imam from the same pesantren, to lead the tarawihprayer. In many cases, mubalig Ramadhan from the Pesantren As’adiyah are also qualified to be an imam and are able to be both preacher and prayer leader, including as a leader of the Friday congregational prayer at their assigned placements. The role they fulfill often depends on the requests from the local mosque communities. For example, there are mosque communities that can only afford to pay the travel costs and accommodation for either an imam or a mubalig Ramadhan,not both. The general policy of Pesantren As’adiyah, however, is to assign different persons for the tasks (imam or mubalig), to enable more students and teachers from thepesantrento serve the local Muslim commu-nities during the month of Ramadhan. In thispesantren, during this month there are no teaching activities at all.
As with the imam from As’adiyah, thesemubaliguse social media to interact with col-leagues, families and friends as well as to search for information. Many of them told me that they receive updates on the most recent social, political and religious issues in Indo-nesia via social media such as Facebook or chat platforms such as WhatsApp. Most of my interlocutors access social media via their smartphones. Very few have desktop computers or laptops as they are often unaffordable. In Indonesia, particularly in rural areas, it is much more practical for users to connect to the Internet via their mobile phone network by purchasing pre-paid credit that provides a certain amount of data. Given these developments it is unsurprising that today, social networking sites are used by As’ a-diyah individuals to advance theirdakwahprogrammes, such as developing relationships with their followers. An example is the Facebook activities of Usman Pateha, a young teacher (aged 34) in Pesantren As’adiyah who is also engaged in preaching.21He attended a Pesantren As’adiyah primary school, its junior high school, and later enrolled at As’ a-diyah’s Islamic college where he obtained his undergraduate degree in Islamic law. At the same time, he also participated in As’adiyah’s four-year intensive training programme for young ulama (Ma‘ahad‘Aly) from which he obtained his formal degree ofKiyai Muda
(young Muslim cleric or scholar).
Currently, he is one of the rising stars among young As’adiyah preachers. He receives invitations to deliver sermons not only from Muslim communities in South Sulawesi but also from Central and West Sulawesi, East Kalimantan and Papua.22He told me that he joined Facebook for several reasons but primarily to be in touch with his old and current friends, and colleagues, particularly with fellowpesantrenalumni. He said that he could finally locate and eventually reunite with most of his former junior and senior high school-mates thanks to Facebook.
For Usman Pateha, Facebook represents a useful platform to share information and knowledge about Islamic teachings and current issues with his fellow preachers.
21I conducted a series of online and offline interviews with Usman Pateha between February and September 2016. 22
Through Facebook, and also WhatsApp, he receives interesting stories and jokes that he incorporates in his religious speeches to make them more attractive and topical for the Muslim community. He also uses Facebook as a medium to share updated information about his activities, especially about when and where he will be delivering his religious speeches. One of the postings on his Facebook wall shows him in front of the office of a travel agency for hajj and umrah pilgrimmages that he works with. He also posted photos where he spoke at the pre-departure gathering of anumrahgroup that he led.
Most of his Facebook pictures, however, reveal that he is busy as as a preacher, deliver-ing sermons at religious and life-cycle ceremonies in different places in South Sulawesi and beyond. In 2015, he spent the fasting month of Ramadhan as a‘contract preacher’, deli-vering religious speeches in the Great Mosque of Merauke, a district in the most eastern part of Indonesia’s province of Papua. His postings also display photos showing him being video-recorded by local and national television stations that broadcast religious pro-grammes frequently. On his Facebook wall one can find some of these televised sermons as well as amateur videos of his religious speeches in a variety of settings, such as during religious ceremonies. Similar to what Ellison et al. (2007) suggest in relation to the role of social networking sites in the context of their research on undergraduate stu-dents at a large US midwestern university, Usman Pateha effectively uses Facebook for presenting himself, maintaining his social networks, and establishing connections with his followers.
In my interviews with him, he asserted that his increasing popularity indakwahwas at least partly due to his active engagement with social media. Many of the invitations from Muslim communities, near and far, are received via Facebook and WhatsApp. When he asks those who had invited him how they knew about him and why him, the usual answer is that they first knew about him through Facebook where they had seen his busy schedule as a preacher and had watched videos of his sermons. For example, in Soppeng district, South Sulawesi, organisers of a ritual to celebrate the Prophet Muham-mad’s birthday decided to invite Usman Pateha as the speaker for their ceremony only after they had heard a number of his sermons on both his Facebook account and YouTube. Usman Pateha also informed me that to improve the theme and content of his religious speeches he benefits from Islamic websites that provide updated news and information about Islam. For this purpose, he prefers Islamic websites that are in line with the main-stream version of Sunni Islam (ahl al-sunna wa‘l-jamā‘a) such as arrahmah.co.id. However, he also occasionally accesses other websites organised by non-mainstream Islamic groups for the sake of comparison. For his religious speeches, he uses various mobile phone applications to access and read digital resources about Islam such as a Hadith encyclopedia, Qur’an translations and interpretations, and others. As some of these digital resources are only accessible online, Usman Pateha always ensures that he has a large amount of pre-paid credit for his mobile phone for access. This also enables him to record himself when delivering his speeches and to post it as a ‘live video’ on his Facebook wall. The broad social network that Usman Pateha has established and main-tained through his active engagement with Facebook clearly contributes to his social capital as a preacher.23 This case thus confirms the findings of Ellison et al. (2007:
23
1161) who assert Facebook plays a significant role in the process by which its users‘form and maintain social capital’.
In contrast to Usman Pateha, a senior preacher at Pesantren As’adiyah, Sudirman Abidin (aged 55),24 does not own a mobile phone and has no access to the Internet or any form of social media. For communicating with family members and friends, he uses his landline phone at home and at his office. When asked why he does not own a mobile phone, his reply was that he does not want to be disturbed and distracted by a mobile phone, especially when he is performing prayers and delivering sermons. He said: ‘I have seen many of my fellow preachers being frequently interrupted by their mobile phone when they were delivering speeches.’ He also noted that some of them use their mobile phones to store their speech texts, at least the outline, and read from the phone screen On the other hand, preachers in the past delivered their speeches from memory or without the aid of a notebooks or digital tools.
Sudirman Abidin also observed that manypesantrenstudents and teachers nowadays possess mobile phones and spend too much time on them rather than reading books in their spare time. He compared the situation to when he was a student at Pesantren As’ a-diyah, and had spent most his time after classes by memorising the Qur’an, reading school textbooks and listening to lectures given by their teachers on Radio Suara As’adiyah. Another older teacher had a similar concern about mobile phones and the interruptions they can cause in daily life. He said that one of the strengths of Pesantren As’adiyah is to provide an environment where students can focus on reading and mastering religious texts as part of their education to become an ulama, no matter how voluminous the texts are. Now, he explained, often both students and teachers seem to be busier with their mobile phones than with reading religious books which might limit their physical stamina and attention span for learning over a longer period of time.25 When I asked Sudirman Abidin how he receives invitations to deliver sermons, he said that in most cases these are oral or written invitations delivered by the event organiser. He also receives invitations by phone at home and at the office. However, compared to Usman Pateha, Sudirman Abidin’s audiences are from the same social background and mainly comprise the rural population in Wajo and its neighbouring districts of Soppeng, Sidrap and Bone.
It is worth noting that Usman Pateha and Sudirman Abidin’s contrasting attitudes towards the development of media technologies, i.e. the Internet in particular, is not shaped by different ideological backgrounds. Both are graduates of Pesantren As’adiyah and therefore have learned the same interpretation of Islam which falls into the category of a mainstream version of Sunni Islam. Sudirman Abidin considers that having a mobile phone does not bring sufficient benefits and there is no urgency in needing access to the Internet, let alone having a social media account.
In their research Ellison et al. (2010: 874) suggest that people who engage in certain social media activities‘may be more likely to reap social capital benefits’. In the case of Sudirman Abidin it becomes apparent that, unlike Usman Pateha, his opportunities to develop and maintain relationships with and participate in Muslim communities are ham-pered by his refusal to use social media. Additionally, his sermons are staid unlike Usman Pateha’s, since he does not take advantage of the new information technologies. In other
24
Pseudonym used, interview in Sengkang, 21 September 2016.
words, being web-savvy is a required skill for religious preachers today, especially if they want to connect with Indonesia’s urban and educated Muslim middle-classes (see also Slama2017).
It is interesting to note that even the director of Pesantren As’adiyah, AG. Rafi’i Yunus, now reads the Qur’an from his smartphone rather than from a printed Qur’anic text. He has also a Facebook account but told me that he rarely updates his Facebook status or comments on his Facebook friends’ postings. However, he frequently enjoys reading their postings, feeling inspired and entertained by them. One reason for having a Facebook account, despite being a passive user, is his interest in the activities of the teachers of his
pesantren. He likes to know their aspirations and criticisms of his leadership that they,
consciously or unconsciously, may post on their Facebook walls but are most unlikely to convey to him directly. He also welcomes mobile phone text messages, especially for scheduling meetings, but does not respond to mobile phone calls which might disturb him during prayer. In most cases, he turns away visitors, especially students, who arrive unannounced, i.e. without making an appointment by a text message.26
These examples indicate that the top leaders of As’adiyah, but not all the older preach-ers, have realised the importance of utilising social media, including Facebook, to develop their institution. It is thus unsurprising that in recent years, As’adiyah has been running an official Facebook page where information, announcements, photos and videos about major activities of As’adiyah are posted, including the weekly schedule of Friday congre-gational speakers (khatib) in mosques within and around Sengkang.
Conclusion
In the past, traditional religious institutions such as thepesantrenwere often cautious in adopting new media technologies which were often perceived as potentially eliciting nega-tive effects on the very nature of their institution. In the case of As’adiyah, however, it has readily accommodated media technologies to advance its religious, social and educational programmes. For example, it established its own radio station and printing workshop to publish its own magazines and books. It therefore does not come as a surprise that the leaders of As’adiyah gained benefits from using computers, laptops, mobile phones and the Internet in general.
As for social media, and Facebook in particular, members of the Pesantren As’adiyah community reveal different attitudes in how they use it and for which purpose. Many use Facebook without being much concerned that it could compromise their roles as religious teachers, preachers or leaders of congregational prayer. They exhibit various religious and non-religious content on their Facebook accounts, and use social media to enlarge their social capital, which enables them to develop and strengthen their religious influence within the community. However, there are a few members of As’adiyah who resist using social media, or even mobile phones, for the very reason that this technology may jeopardise the traditional way of life within apesantrencommunity in which social interaction should take place in offline life instead of in virtual realms.
The cases of twomubaligfrom As’adiyah, Usman Pateha and Sudirman Abidin, illus-trate the role social media in particular, and modern technological skills in general, can
26Interviews with AG. Rafi
play in the career of an Islamic preacher. On the one hand, Usman Pateha, an active Face-book and WhatsApp user is able to connect directly with the audience of his religious speeches across the country beyond his immediate social network which contributes to extending his reputation as a preacher. On the other hand, Sudirman Abidin who avoids new information technologies, and especially the Internet, builds his audience only through his local, immediate socio-religious activities. Hence, and in contrast to Usman Pateha, his reputation does not surpass that of other preachers, particularly those of a younger generation.
The social media engagement of imams andmubaligfrom Pesantren As’adiyah illus-trates the complex intersection of religious transformation and digital life. Digital life, par-ticularly as it is manifested on social media such as Facebook, has transformed the way people learn about their religion, choose which religious authority to follow, and how they express their religiosity to others. It also exemplifies the crucial development in the fortunes of Islamic figures in Indonesia, since today religious authority has been signifi-cantly fused with online fame. Utilising various forms of media, including social media, amubaligis able to expand his audience and religious influence far beyond his traditional network. In recent years, this is a development which has particularly affected As’adiyah. Due to its relatively open engagement with social media it is increasingly beginning to benefit from reaching out to a wider community as some of its preachers have become popular far beyond the traditional As’adiyah constituency.
Acknowledgements
I thank Martin Slama for suggesting that I conduct research on the role of social media in the devel-opment of As’adiyah, and for the invitation to the workshop‘Social Media and Islamic Practice in Southeast Asia’, held in Vienna in April 2016. The workshop was part of the research project
‘Islamic (Inter)Faces of the Internet: Emerging Socialities and Forms of Piety in Indonesia’
funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and based at the Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Note on contributor
Wahyuddin Halimis a senior lecturer at the Department of Islamic Philosophy and Theology,
Faculty of Ushuluddin, Philosophy and Political Sciences, Alauddin State Islamic University, Makassar, Indonesia. He obtained his PhD in Anthropology from the School of Culture, History and Language, the Australian National University, Canberra with a dissertation on the role of a
pesantrenin the construction and reproduction of religious authority in South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Email: [email protected]
ORCID
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